Feng Shui
Feng Shui, pronounced “foong swee” (Cantonese) or “fong shway” (Mandarin), “fung shway” (English), is the Chinese art of arranging buildings, objects, and space of an environment in such a way as to achieve harmony and balance. The English translation of Feng Shui is “the way of Wind (feng) and Water (shui)” or “the natural forces of the universe.”
This ancient practice traces its roots back thousands of years to the beginning of Chinese agrarian life when early settlers recognized the need to seek harmony with the natural forces in order to survive. Evidence of its existence can be found in the alignment and organization of burial sites in Chinese villages from 6000 B.C. In prehistoric Europe, the system of arranging objects and structures to be in harmony with the universe was a relatively common practice.
Feng Shui is more than a popular trend. It is a complex art and body of knowledge that provides techniques for balancing the energies of any given space to assure the health and good fortune of the inhabitants. These techniques are also applied to landscape and land form for the same purpose. The doctrine of Feng Shui is based on the premise that humans are affected by their surroundings and comes from ancient observations that when you improve your environment, you improve your life.
Recommendations differ for each individual situation and are based on the approach, or school of Feng Shui, practiced by the professional Feng Shui consultant. These recommendations can range from guidance on the use of certain objects or colors to enhance and support the occupants’ energies, to instruction on the correct layout and orientation when building a home, placing furniture, or landscaping to identifying unseen forces influenced by directional energies and providing appropriate suggestions or “adjustments” to mitigate any influences deemed potentially challenging.
The practice of Feng Shui has evolved over thousands of years and represents a variety of schools including Form School, Classical, Compass and Western or Black Hat Sect Tibetan Buddhist Feng Shui. Regardless of the differing approaches each school represents, the objective is the same: to assist people in creating environments that support and nurture their needs, their desires and their over-all well-being.
“Space should satisfy the fundamental, aesthetic, and spiritual needs of man.”
Frank Lloyd Wright